What the new Airbnb rules may mean for you

On April 19, after a long withstanding over short-term rentals, the city of Vancouver and Airbnb have come to an agreement permitting citizens to legally use their primary residences for short-term rentals. What used to be more lucrative for homeowners is now limited by the city bylaws that caps landlords to renting it for no more than thirty consecutive days. Through careful collaboration, the city aims to tackle the record-low vacancy rate, currently at 0.7 per cent by posing limitations on short-term rentals. Moreover, throughout this process, they hope to influence homeowners to make the shift from short-term rentals to long-term rentals.

If you decide to capitalize on operating short-term rentals in your (principal) home, you must acquire an annual business license; the fee for that is $49/year, with an additional one-time activation fee of $54. In addition to possessing the license, it is also necessary to feature it in every listed rental property on the global home-sharing site. Moreover, hosts are also to ensure they meet a checklist of requirements that can be found here. Failure to comply with the prerequisites results in daily fines of $1000 upwards. Undoubtedly a more meticulous process, but indefinitely a better alternative than being fined such amounts that would otherwise eat up your profitable cash flow!